BIG FISH!

He was a beauty! Owen's first true fishing adventure began yesterday morning. His Auntie Pam , who has been alternating weekends to have some one-on-one time with Owen and Maya each week, saw the Fishing Derby advertised and knew this was just the thing.

Owen was out the door at 7:45 with Auntie Pam and Grammie. They went to Miller Park in Bloomington and met up with our neighbors the Merrills.

The fishing was apparently frustrating at first. The rod we'd bought Owen to replace the beginner rod Pam had bought him suffered the same fate, a broken reel. Chris Merrill stepped in, though, lending Owen one of his rods and helping him get started.

Like all good fishing stories, Owen's adventure also included One That Got Away. From Kelli Merrill's report, the catfish Owen had hooked at one point was easily close to two feet long, a big fellow who put up quite a fight. Indeed, the reason they didn't land him in the long run was that nobody had a net large enough to bring him to shore.

Still, his actual catch did bring a lot of joy, as you'll see in the pictures below.



Here's Owen (below) with the fish and Chris.


And here he is at home.

FYI, we did release the fish into the creek behind our house later. This proved to be quite the ordeal. After Grammie and Auntie Pam left, we took some time to visit with Owen to see what he wanted to do with the fish. Chris had offered to clean it along with their catch, which was very generous. Truth be, though, we mostly eat a vegetarian diet and, after discussing it with Owen, we all agreed we would feel more comfortable releasing the fish.

Problem was when we went to grab the bucket, the fish had stopped moving. The gills were flapping every now and then and his head twitched less frequently. So we ran it to the creek, hoping the running water would make a difference.

For five minutes, the fish flapped listlessly in the water, floating mostly on its side and back. The Merrills came over during that time to see what we were doing. When it looked like all was lost, we filled the pail up again with water and fish and handed it off to them for cleaning.

Not 20 minutes later, while I was preparing lunch, Owen ran back from some playing with Philip and his sisters. "The fish isn't dead! We just released it." Rising like the Phoenix, our little catfish decided all wasn't lost and, having been discovered alive at the Merrill household, was returned to the creek.

Owen, Amy, Maya, and Philip ventured down the creek today to see if they could find him. Owen was pretty sure he saw a big tail flipping out of the water. Wherever he is, I hope our fish is enjoying his new day of swimming about. Maybe we'll catch you again some day ...